[Anita Blake Collection] - Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton Read Free Book Online

smiled then, and she felt his need like a physical touch. His hand touched the door lock. Adria jerked back, startled, frightened, awake. The drapes fell shut—the moonlight gleamed empty.
    Adria peeked round the drapes, hand shaking. There was nothing there. Had she dreamed it? She had been dreaming of him, of strong hands pushing her under the water. Adria stared at the empty deck. Moonlight glittered off something. She knelt against the glass and stared. There was a puddle of water on the deck. There was no rain this time of year.
    Adria was halfway to the phone to call the police when she stopped. What could she say? “I saw webbing between his fingers, and it melted away.” They wouldn’t believe her, and he had known they wouldn’t. He had come to taunt her, or to kill her. Adria remembered the feel of him inside her mind, slick, and cold and warm, like nothing she had ever felt. She wondered what he could have done if she hadn’t been on the pills, half dead to the world. If he had opened the door…
    Adria knew now how he had gotten Rachel down on the beach. He had called her, lured her, with himself as bait. The police wouldn’t find him, because he could go places they couldn’t, places they would never dream of going.
    Adria knew the truth, but no one would believe her. It was crazy. Ifshe’d had her gun tonight she could have given him a surprise. Would bullets hurt a triton? They didn’t hurt vampires, did they?
    Adria couldn’t remember any stories about how to kill a mermaid. Just fairy tales.
    The morning paper showed another victim, miles from Adria. Adria drank morning coffee with a gun lying on the table. She had bought it years ago when her ex-husband had traveled a lot and left her alone. It was cleaned, oiled, and loaded. The hammer rested on an empty chamber. If five bullets weren’t enough…well, Adria didn’t think it would matter.
    The triton didn’t come back, but he killed two more women. The police were baffled, looking for lifeguards, triathletes. They weren’t even close.
    Adria stayed safe and warm and dry. And another woman died. He was killing almost every other night. The police were frantic; everyone on the beach was terrified.
    When Rachel had been dead almost four weeks, Adria dreamed of the triton again. Strong webbed hands caressed her skin; she swam under water and breathed. She woke halfway across her bedroom floor. Her feet were tangled in a pair of discarded old jeans. Almost tripping had woken her. Adria swallowed, tried to breathe, tried to think. She heard his song then, inside her head. Music that cried and wept, that rolled and roared, lonely as the sea, vast and deep, promising miracles. She stood frozen for a moment, listening.
    Adria stumbled back to her bed and sat on the edge of the rumpled sheets. She could not go to him, should not, would not. The song sighed and eased her mind, until she was standing. His need was in the music, strong and deep, careless as the ocean itself, and as unstoppable. She picked up her robe from the floor and slipped it on. It felt real and soft. She picked up the gun from the bedside table and put it in the robe pocket. It hung heavy and awkward, bumping her leg as she walked. She could not deny him, but she might be able to surprise him.
    The moon rode high and almost full, shimmering silver on the rolling waves. The sea whispered, adding to the triton’s song. Music andocean hissed and roared until Adria could not be sure who was singing to her. Was it the sea? Did the sea itself want to touch her, to hold her? Yes, the sea wanted her. It was not love the sea offered, but violent need, a need so great it filled the world with crying.
    She walked at the edge of the wet sand, as the lips of curling waves sloshed over her ankles. High tide was spilling inland.
    She waded ankle deep to the rocks, the water soaking the edge of her robe, pulling, tripping. The song said, Leave